Sparkling Pomegranate Water and Other Things...


Our pomegranate tree by the kitchen garden has been putting out fruit...
for the last few months


I'm taking advantage of that and a friend's recommendation to...
make sun sparkled pomegranate water for drinking


what seeds I didn't pop into my mouth went into a jar filled with water...
and placed in between the forked trunks of a lychee tree where the sun was hitting it...
just enough to draw the flavor from the seeds for a wonderfully tasteful thirst quencher

these are my kind of sparkles


the potted Stevia plants have not only been sweetening my teas...


but also blooming and coming to seed and...
although it's said that letting them come to seed makes the leaves a bit bitter...
I haven't found it so, not much
I prefer letting my Stevia seed and sow themselves as they've been doing...
saving me the work of keeping this wonderfully natural sweetener going on it's own

besides, the flowers are awfully pretty, tiny as they are


the Mexican sunflower has been doing the same...
reseeding itself in the garden and I noticed that the butterflies sure do come around for them


and with the dry season still keeping it's presence here...


these flowers give the little creatures their due reward for looking so lovely


and although it is advisable to snip the blooms off basil plants to keep them flavorful...


the flowers help feed the hungry bees; my basil sows itself... 
and I have more basil to use in the kitchen


in the mornings, I need no alarm clock on the bedside table
this little flycatcher gets up very early in the morning to chime "wake up!"
and he never fails to sweetly chirp his song close to the cottage every 5 am


this flycatcher not only gets up early enough to catch the worm...
but he manages to find himself a small lizard for extra fortitude...
or perhaps for little ones somewhere in a nest


our doves have been busy with nesting and we have quite a few precious wee doves...
peeping down on us from over the top of their nests in the tree tops



and because my daily chores are calling...
I leave you with my crinkled, pink double-petaled hibiscus...
with a thank you for coming by and visiting


May your day or night be filled with the loveliness of the Lord's grace.